“Rdlvard Gillett, Southlvick, Mass. — Hardy Orchids 
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Cypripedium pubescens ($ee page At) 
Hardy Orchids 
The Orchids of New England, for the most part, are shade-loving plants, and delight in 
a soil well drained and largely composed of leaf-mold. While the common border plants arc 
not particular as to soil, they like the open sun and arc exposed to the drying winds; but 
these little Orchids require altogether a different treatment, both in soil and position. We 
find them in the wild, usually in a soil composed largely of leaf-mold; the trees and rocks, 
the unevenness of the ground, low shrubs and ferns, all help to keep the air and soil cool 
and moist, and with but little circulation of the air. We add some bog-moss to the leaf-mold 
in making the bed for the smaller Orchids, raising the bed several inches to insure good 
drainage. Here Aplectrum, Goodyeras, Liparis, Orchis spectabilis, Habenaria bracieaia 
II. Hookcri and Cypripedium acaulc will thrive. A few of our native Orchids are really bog- 
plants and desire more moisture, like Arethusa, Calopogon, Habenaria blepharigloltis^ H. 
dilatata H. hyperborea, Cypripedium spectabilc and Pogonia ophioglossoides. Select a 
wet place where the surface is constantly saturated with water, building up a bed a little, 
and on top cover with moss 4 to 6 inches deep. Plant these Orchids in clean sphagnum. In 
th’s way we have had excellent success in growing them in shade. 
APLECTRUM hyemale (Puttyroot). This plant sends up from a bulbous root late in summer 
a pointed green leaf, 2 to 6 inches long, which lasts through the winter, and in spring 
a stalk about a foot high, bearing a raceme of large, greenish brown flowers. Rich, moist, 
shady places. 20 cts. 
ARETHUSA bulbosa. This has a beautiful purple flower resembling a miniature lady*s- 
slipper. On a stalk about 6 inches high, from a little bulb resting in sphagnum moss. 
25 cts. 
CALOPOGON pulchellus. Although this plant is more generally found in swamps and peat 
bogs, it also frequently grows in moist, sandy soil. It is a small bulb about the size of a 
large bean, which sends up in spring a long, grass-like leaf and a stalk about a foot high, 
bearing in June and July two to six showy pink-purple flowers about an inch broad. 
10 cts. each, $i per doz. 
